The power of "Thank You"

"Published in Psychological Science, research conducted by assistant professor of marketing in the McCombs School of Business at UT Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley at The University of Chicago asked participants, in three different experiments, to write a letter of gratitude to someone who's done something nice for them and then anticipate the recipient's reaction.

In each experiment, letter writers overestimated how awkward recipients would feel about the gesture and underestimated how surprised and positive recipients would feel."

Professor Kumar noted, "It only takes a couple of minutes to compose letters like these, thoughtful ones and sincere ones. It comes at little cost, but the benefits are larger than people expect."

If you fear that the recipient would find such a note awkward, think about how you'd feel if you got one.

Good, right?

So, to whom will you sent a thank you note today?

Might it be a good thing to do once a week?

How about going old-school and making it an actual letter or postcard? I bet that would be something the recipient would cherish.

"Published in Psychological Science, research conducted by assistant professor of marketing in the McCombs School of Business at UT Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley at The University of Chicago asked participants, in three different experiments, to write a letter of gratitude to someone who's done something nice for them and then anticipate the recipient's reaction.

In each experiment, letter writers overestimated how awkward recipients would feel about the gesture and underestimated how surprised and positive recipients would feel."

Professor Kumar noted, "It only takes a couple of minutes to compose letters like these, thoughtful ones and sincere ones. It comes at little cost, but the benefits are larger than people expect."

If you fear that the recipient would find such a note awkward, think about how you'd feel if you got one.

Good, right?

So, to whom will you sent a thank you note today?

Might it be a good thing to do once a week?

How about going old-school and making it an actual letter or postcard? I bet that would be something the recipient would cherish.